Back in Time

At the long, polished table, Debbie’s father raises his glass and tells the family Carmen is moving in. Debbie smiles for him. Inside, she counts weeks on her fingers, stunned he can promise forever so soon. The next morning her sisters tear her apart over cereal, the slam of the door following her to Karen’s door. Karen already knows. She has smiled at Carmen herself. “She’s gorgeous, Debs. If your dad wanted that, who wouldn’t?” Karen says, gaze softening at a memory. She then recounts how her cousin Nicky once guided her stepmother Lucy past every moral line, starting with slow kisses in the quiet house, then bare skin, then the wet sound of fingers sinking deep. Lucy moaned first, then Nicky straddled and rode her until both bodies arched and trembled. Debbie listens, anger growing hot and strange, and leaves for school with the story heavy on her skin.